  ⧷ᢥ ⇐㝬㍳  ศ↰᧻㒶 ⪺ ਛᎹᱞᄦ ⸶  127(21628//()7%(+,1'       E\            6KRLQ <RVKLGD+DNXVDQ0RWKHUODQG8QLYHUVLW\Preface
The present note entitled “Note on the Soul left behind” Shoin Yoshida’s㧔1830-1959)
testamentary letter, left behind by himself.

This note is directed to a particular groupof people, who are his pupils studying at ᧻ਅ᧛Ⴖ(Shokasonjyuku) ,where Shoin is thedirector of this private school.
The writing of this note is finished in the evening on the day before his execution by
the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Shoin calls his pupils colleagues, and he talks anddiscusses with them equally.
This note may be considered as his final lecture to his pupils, stimulating them torealize his ambition that reveres the Emperor and expels barbarians.
his ambition to his pupils with friendship one after another.

Shoin appeals“Burning teacher”,

Shoin’s temperature is governing the mood of this note with a peculiar tone in the everynook and corner.
The most impressive part in this note is Chapter 8: Shoin, facing to his death, begins
with the following sentences, “ At the moment, I can still maintain a peaceful mind,
though I am in the face of death, for I am thinking about the cycle of four seasons”.
Then, Shin explains that anyone has also four seasons.
has naturally four seasons.

One who dies at ten years old

Similarly, for one who dies at twenty years old, and at

thirty years old, there are four seasons.

This is exactly same, for one who dies at fiftyyears old and one hundred years old.

This is because even if one dies at any age sheor he bears seeds.

This is the finest part of the note in which shoin’s writing attains

highly matured skill, and this notion on life and death may be a dying message affecting
over our hearts even living in the present age.

This note is secretly circulated among

the pupils who try to succeed Shoin’s ambition, and becomes their Bible.
About half of Shoin’s pupils have survived until Meiji era, but the rest die in themiddle of completing their ambition.

This is a remarkable evidence for the fact thatthe influence by an eminent leader is extraordinarily strong and outstanding.
This note consist of only 5,000 words in Japanese, but it emits an eternal light.
This means Shoin’s four seasons at thirty years old bear numeral fine seeds.

It ishoped that people living in the violent shaking 21st century read this remarkable notewith appreciation.
September 18, in Hakusan
Takeo Nakagawa(1)

Even if my body is crumble into decay in the wild field of ᱞ⬿㊁㧔Musashino㧕, Iwill still keep the soul of Japan.
October 25, 1859ศ↰ ᧻㒶㧔Shoin Yoshida㧕
1.I have been thinking of various things since last year and my thought itself has
experienced changes in many times.

Among many persons, you all may know thatthe person who I really aim to become is ⽾㜞 1)(Kanko) in ⿬(Cho) or ዮᐔ 2)(Kutsupei)in ᬩ(so).

This is the reason why ౉ᳯ᧖⬿ 3)㧔Sugizo Irie㧕had presented me thefollowing farewell poem: “ Although there are many gentlemen in ῆ(enn) and ⿬(cho),⽾㜞(Kanko) is the number one among them, and in ⨳(kei) and ᬩ(so) the only man wasዮᐔ(Kutsupei) who was worried about the future of their country, China”.
However, I had been thinking about the word ‘sincerity’, after I got the order to send
me to Edo.

Then, ᧖⬿(Sugizo) incidentally showed me the word ‘death’ that time,and had urged me to prepare for death. However, I had not tried to think of my death,but getting a piece of plain wood cotton cloth, I had written the following phrase by ቃሶ4)(Mencius)”There is nothing that don’t move by sincerity” on it.

I had brought thetowel, on which the cotton cloth was sewn, to Edo, and put it on the wall of my room inthe supreme court of the Shougunate.

This is because I tried to express my will toimprove our country. .
Reviewing the change of the political situations during last year, it is quite regretfulthat the communication between the Imperial Court and the Shougunate was not good,so that both parties could not reply each other in all sincerity.

I have got an ambition,

for I have believed if the magistrates of the Shougunate understand my sincerity trying
to penetrate the hard wall with a whole heart, they must understand my opinions ,whatever I am tiny man.

However, as a proverb says “ even if small insects once they

form a group, they will cover whole of a mountain”, the officials had ignored my opinions,so that I have spent the time until now in vein.

This is caused by the lack of my virtue,

I cannot blame and think ill of anyone.
1)⽾㜞(Kanko) is a prime minister in ⿬(Cho), China.
2)ዮᐔ(Kutsupei) is a patriotic poet in the turbulent age in ᬩ(so), China.
3)౉ᳯ᧖⬿㧔Sugizo Irie㧕is a pupil of ศ↰ ᧻㒶(Shoin Yoshida).
4) ቃሶ(Mencius) is a Chinese philosopher, and the author of Mencius.
2. On July 9, 1859, I got the first call from the supreme court.

The three magistrates

appeared there, and they asked me the following two points.

The first one is whether

I had met with ᪢↰Ḯᰴ㇢ 1)㧔Genjiro Umeda㧕when he visited to Choshu-clan, and if so(2)続きは完成版でお楽しみ下さい。